Preparing Youth for Their Future: What Our Exploration of Durable Skills Across Twelve Innovative High Schools Tell Us About What Is Possible

By: Chris Unger and Michael Crawford

When Shelby, a high school student from Monett, Missouri, toured a cadaver lab through her GO CAPS program, she discovered a passion that would shape her future. That single experience led her to choose Missouri Southern State University specifically for its cadaver lab, where she initiated research on the phrenic nerve and sympathetic nervous system that resulted in published papers and ultimately propelled her to medical school.

When Javion, a student at the High School for Recording Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota, performed a Black History Month project on stage, transforming historical research into hip-hop lyrics, he wasn’t just completing an assignment—he was learning how to be a better communicator through his personal, authentic cultural expression.

And when Melina, a junior at Miami’s NAF Law Academy, created a light-up LED track-and-field hurdle for athletes who wanted to train at night, partnered with a local law firm to patent her invention, she discovered how creativity and critical thinking could transform a school project into a real entrepreneurial enterprise.

These remarkable transformations emerged from our unprecedented 16-month investigation into how twelve innovative high schools and programs across America successfully develop what employers desperately seek: durable skills—the creative, collaborative, critical thinking, and communication competencies that transcend specific disciplines and prepare students for a future where those with these skills will thrive.

Table 1: The Ten Essential Durable Skills

The Scope of Discovery

Our investigation represents the most comprehensive qualitative study of durable skills development ever conducted in American secondary education. We conducted 100+ interviews and focus groups with 60+ educators and 100+ students across twelve diverse schools—from the High School for Recording Arts in Minnesota, where 92% of students live in poverty and 60% have been justice-involved, to NAF Career Academies preparing students for engineering, health sciences, and law careers. From Gibson Ek, a Big Picture School, in Washington to STEM School Chattanooga to rural Batesville High School in Indiana to One Stone in Boise.

Through intensive analysis, we identified three core practices that significantly contributed to these schools’ students’ durable skill development.

Table 2: Innovative Schools and Programs in Our Study

Practice 1: Name It and Claim It

Explicitly identify, communicate, and have students regularly reflect on targeted skills

The most successful schools move beyond vague aspirations to clearly identifying and communicating specific skills to students and make these competencies central to everything they do.

Gibson Ek exemplifies this approach with five core competency categories: Personal Qualities, Communication, Empirical Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and Social Reasoning. These aren’t just posted on walls—they’re tracked through a digital dashboard where advisors regularly review each student’s growth. Students watch their “competency bars” grow based on evidence from their work, along with visual saplings growing into trees as evidence of their competencies growing.

Every advisor-student meeting centers on competency development. As students engage in internships, independent projects, and design labs, they continuously connect their experiences back to these core skills. The result? Students become fluent in identifying and articulating their own growth.

STEM School Chattanooga takes a more targeted approach, laser-focusing on three skills: Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Innovation. But here’s the key—they provide developmental frameworks for each. Tenth graders engage critical thinking through “evaluation,” eleventh graders through “prototyping,” and twelfth graders through “expert knowledge.” Students complete weekly prototype reports assessing their progress, creating a regular rhythm of reflection that makes skill development visible and intentional.

The engineering design process becomes a living framework at STEM School Chattanooga. Students work in their MIT-style Fab Lab, tackling challenges like creating solar-powered door chargers or developing prosthetic solutions requiring patent research and extensive testing. By senior year, they’re producing marketable products—like a low-cost water filtration system funded by local nonprofits—demonstrating mastery of the full design cycle.

At Da Vinci Design, the school’s Care, Conceptualize, Create, and Critique cycle is woven into every classroom conversation. One student captured it perfectly: “Having this process drilled into your head so much makes you more aware that you are constantly going through these steps no matter what you’re doing. Do you care about what you’re doing? Did you take time to conceptualize? Did you take helpful feedback and critique your piece?”

The pattern is unmistakable: when schools deliberately name, focus on, and track specific skills, students internalize them as essential and can articulate both their development and practical value.

Practice 2: Learn by Doing Real Work

Growing skills through interest-driven, real-world, authentic experiences

These schools have moved far beyond traditional classroom assignments. Students develop skills through genuine, community-connected work that matters to them and others.

Connor’s journey at Gibson Ek illustrates this perfectly. Inspired by a friend’s motorized bicycle, he embarked on a four-year exploration that transformed him from curious freshman to skilled technician. His first bike was simple, but each iteration grew more sophisticated—custom electrical systems, motorcycle batteries, LED lighting. The iterative process involved extensive trial-and-error, YouTube research, and persistent problem-solving through mounting challenges, chain alignment issues, and electrical engineering puzzles.

This authentic interest led Connor to seek automotive internships. When Gibson Ek’s database didn’t have what he needed, he took ownership: “I basically went on Google, looked for people who were doing stuff I want to be doing, and I sent email, email, email.” After contacting fourteen businesses, Patrick at Midnight Motor Sports finally responded: “Connor, come on down. I’d like to meet you.” This led to paid employment working on complex vintage BMW restoration—drivetrain systems, transmissions, differentials, exhaust systems.

Connor’s story isn’t unique. Sophie’s transformation began with a single drawing in 9th grade that made everyone who saw it say “it gives you a feeling.” What started as a passion project—screen printing her designs onto t-shirts for her school’s presentation of learning—quickly evolved into something bigger. With mentorship from her entrepreneurship teacher who was a “screen printing master,” she fell in love with the process and began creating more designs, selling them to classmates and beyond. 

By sophomore year, Sophie had gained independence, setting up a screen-printing operation in her garage with the help of her father. Her authentic passion then led to real business success. As she puts it: “if you walk down the hallways at my school, there’ll be people wearing something that I’ve made.” Now preparing for college, she’s focused on growing her brand into a full business while staying in LA to access manufacturing opportunities.

These transformations ripple across all twelve schools. At STEM School Chattanooga, students created solar chargers and low-cost water filtration systems for real clients, progressing from tentative Fab Lab users to confident innovators pitching to community partners. CF CAPS students redesigned a cryogenic freezer step stool for Kryton Engineered Metals—with one student’s work leading directly to full-time employment and tuition assistance. At Batesville, Abi grew her FFA agricultural business from $40,000 to over $200,000 in sales, documenting every skill gained along the way.

These schools create what we call “authentic work” environments, authentic in that the students are engaged in real work and in work that matters to them. It is here where learning happens: in the doing of real, authentic work; in the assistance and support; in the ongoing documentation and reflection on learning.

Practice 3: Assess What Matters Most

Full integration of skill development into curriculum, instruction, and assessment

The most transformative schools don’t just focus on skills and provide authentic experiences—they integrate assessment practices that make competency development visible, continuous, and student-owned.

Gibson Ek’s ongoing competency review exemplifies this integration. Students develop personal learning plans as individualized roadmaps, then describe using their competency dashboard to identify learning gaps and deliberately choose design labs, projects, and experiences to pursue specific growth areas. This continuous feedback loop helps them become increasingly self-directed, with many students analyzing their competency progress to make informed decisions about where to focus next.

STEM School Chattanooga embeds reflection directly into learning experiences. Beyond weekly prototype reports, they hold “Evidence of Readiness” weeks where students lead their own reflection meetings, analyzing progress against learning targets. Most powerfully, students lead their parent conferences. As teacher Sheila explains, students share what they’ve been doing, what’s gone wrong, and how they plan to fix it. Through their digital portfolio system, students must provide evidence of skill development and articulate how they’ve demonstrated specific competencies—developing crucial metacognitive awareness.

This integration appears across innovative schools with sophisticated variations. Da Vinci requires “Habits of Mind slides” in every presentation, connecting their dual framework directly to project work. Cedar Falls CAPS employs digital spreadsheets where students document progress against five performance standards, with formal reviews at 6, 12, and 18-week intervals requiring evidence-based self-assessment. NAF academies seamlessly weave assessment through professional engineering notebooks, Student Court operations with real disciplinary authority, and medical procedure competency checklists before treating actual patients.

This integration “braids together” three elements: the focus of learning (explicit skills), the activities of learning (authentic experiences), and the assessment of learning (student-led, competency-focused reflection).

Beyond Skills: The Deeper Transformation

While our study focused on durable skills development, we also discovered something more profound. Students consistently reported dramatic growth in self-confidence, sense of agency, and ability to be self-directed.

Two catalysts proved essential: meaningful relationships and authentic interest pursuit. From Gibson Ek’s four-year advisor mentorships to intensive instructor relationships at professional programs, strong adult partnerships created the foundation for growth. Equally crucial was the opportunity to explore genuine interests within real-world contexts, connecting with community professionals and experts.

The results speak for themselves. Noah pursued his welding interest by transforming abandoned lockers in Gibson Ek’s basement into smokers – smoking meats being another interest of his. Kayla at Da Vinci took her dream house vision into architectural expertise, creating visual inspiration collages in professional CAD software to printing blueprints and constructing a 3D model. Carter at One Stone reached out to professors from Detroit’s College for Creative Studies, a high end art and design college, developing automotive designs he eventually presented to Ford, Chevy, and Dodge.

When schools provide students ownership of their learning, support authentic interest exploration, and facilitate real-world success experiences, students develop profound confidence and competence – whether through making community impact, launching enterprises, or pursuing meaningful work aligned with their interests.

Getting Started: A Practical Path Forward

Schools don’t need to transform overnight. Our research reveals a progression that any school can pursue immediately, then deepen over time.

Start Simple: Choose 3-5 durable skills that align with your community’s needs and values or build on existing Portrait of a Graduate framework already at play in your school system. Batesville High School leveraged their established Portrait of a Graduate work, using these three practices to activate and mobilize skill development rather than starting from scratch. Name skills clearly, post them prominently, and begin every staff meeting by connecting decisions back to these competencies.

Find the Real Work: Engage your students in authentic work – real work and work of interest to them. You can do this within the school, with internal or external experts and mentors. Through desired internships and client projects. Through design sprints and competitions. An easy lift is pursuing authentic needs and potential projects in your community – such as local nonprofits needing websites, businesses in need of services, or community problems that could use solutions. CF CAPS began with just one industry partner; that relationship led to a dozen more. Start with one meaningful partnership that gives students genuine stakes in outcomes.

Honor Student Interests: Create structured time and support for students to explore what genuinely fascinates them through real-world application. Gibson Ek’s success came from allowing Connor to pursue his bicycle engine curiosity, which led to automotive expertise and professional employment. Establish “interest exploration” periods where students can investigate passions with educator mentorship and community expert connections. This isn’t extra-curricular—it becomes core curriculum when students pursue authentic interests through rigorous, real-world work that develops essential skills.

Invest in Educators: Engage your staff by connecting your curriculum, pedagogy and assessment practices back to the competencies you have decided to focus on. Teachers need time and support to shift from content delivery to competency facilitation. Build regular collaboration time for educators to design authentic experiences, develop assessment rubrics, and reflect on student skill development. One Stone’s teachers meet weekly to discuss individual student progress and adjust support accordingly. This isn’t an add-on responsibility—it’s a fundamental shift toward personalized learning facilitation.

Make Reflection Routine: Institute weekly “competency conversations” where students articulate which skills they used and how. Build competency reflections into assignments, projects, internships, and client projects. Gibson Ek’s dashboard evolved from simple spreadsheets. Building 21 started with students writing brief weekly reflections before developing sophisticated personal learning plans. But be sure to build in several opportunities to have students review and present where they are at in their skills reviewing evidence of their skill building, “one-to-one” and in presentations of learning – with educators, parents, and community members.

Document and Showcase Learning: Create systems for students to capture evidence of their skill development through portfolios, project documentation, and reflection artifacts. Gibson Ek’s quarterly presentations of learning bring together peers, educators, parents, and community members for exhibitions where students present their growth and work—including science fair-style displays with posters and presentations. This documentation serves triple duty: helping students recognize their own progress, providing powerful community advocacy tools when stakeholders see authentic student work, and building institutional support for continued transformation by making learning visible and measurable.

Think Systems, Not Programs: The most successful schools in our study didn’t create add-on programs—they reimagined core academic experiences. Batesville High School maintained traditional course structures while infusing real-world application throughout. Da Vinci built their entire academic program around authentic projects while meeting all state requirements.

Plan for Deep Change: Long-term transformation requires shifting adult mindsets, assessment practices, and community relationships. These schools invested 2-3 years building the cultural foundation before seeing dramatic student outcomes. The investment pays dividends: students who own their learning, articulate their growth, and graduate with both academic credentials and professional confidence.

A Call to Transformation

The students we met aren’t exceptional outliers—they’re regular teenagers who found educational environments that honored their humanity while challenging their growth. Javion at HSRA transformed from “kicked out everywhere” to performing on international stages. Ava at One Stone converted anxiety into advocacy, reaching 500+ mental health professionals. Evelyn at NAF DC evolved from public speaking terror to national presentation confidence.

These schools prove that developing students’ durable skills isn’t just possible—it’s replicable across every conceivable context, from urban poverty to suburban privilege, from tiny rural communities to major metropolitan areas.

The question isn’t whether we can transform education. The question is whether we will choose to do so at the scale our children and society desperately need.

The blueprint exists. The evidence is undeniable. Will we have the courage to build the educational future our students deserve?

To learn more about our inquiry, see our “The Path Forward Blog” series, and in January look for the publication of our full report, individual school profiles, and Durable Skills Playbook, which details practices and strategies a school can employ to foreground the durable skills in their community

It is with great appreciation that we thank the school leaders and educators who shared their practices and the educators and students who shared their thoughts and experiences.  Without them, this research would not have been possible.

About the Authors

Chris Unger is a Teaching Professor in the Graduate Programs in Education including the Doctor of Education program. His primary interest is in the design, development, and proliferation of learner-centered and agency-focused schools and schooling, entrepreneurship as a means of creating new possibilities in education, the support of change agents and change agent work in our educational ecosystem, and the transformation needed in support of youth, our communities, and society.

Dr. Unger has more than 30 years of experience providing technical assistance and conducting research and evaluation in schools, districts, and state education departments in the U.S. and South America. Previously, he led a number of school, district, and state improvement efforts while at Brown University and directed several university, district, and school improvement and research initiatives while at Project Zero of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His current work includes supporting our doctoral students to be change agents in education, networking for the creation and proliferation of learner-centered learning communities, and finding ways to create new possibilities for learning within and outside the current ecosystem of education.

Dr. Unger joined Northeastern in 2010, teaching a number of classes in the Doctor of Education program, and has graduated over 90 advisees since 2011. His areas of expertise lie in the area of education entrepreneurship, experiential learning, school design, change agent activities, and networking.

Michael Crawford is the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at America Succeeds, where he leads the charge on proliferating durable skills—combining research, strategy, and implementation to ensure these essential skills make a real-world impact.

Before joining America Succeeds, Michael wore many hats in the education and innovation space. He’s served in a variety of research, strategy, and partnerships functions, with organizations like VELA, Western Governors University, Real World Scholars, and the Kauffman Foundation. Along the way, he’s been an invited mentor, advisor, speaker, and facilitator on topics like human development, entrepreneurship, and the ever-evolving future of learning and work. He’s also made appearances on a variety of podcasts and panels, where he’s just as comfortable behind a mic or in front of groups, as he is diving into the details.

Michael holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Michigan, an MS in Sport Psychology from Michigan State University, and a PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Kansas.

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